“What The F**k”: In Conference Call Meltdown, Elon Musk Blasts “Fascist” Shelter-In-Place Orders

It has been almost exactly two years since Elon Musk’s infamous conference call meltdown when Tesla’s CEO snapped at RBC analyst Joseph Spak for asking “boring bonehead questions” during the Q1 2018 earnings call. Today, Musk did it again only this time instead of raging at a “bonehead” question, the notoriously volatile CEO went off on a bizarre tirade, hammering an issue he has expressed substantial displeasure with in recent days: the inability to open up the Tesla Fremont factory Calilfornia’s shelter-in-place orders.

Just hours after the Tesla CEO tweeted his best Donald Trump impression to date, screaming “FREE AMERICA NOW” clearly displeased with the ongoing state of affairs in the US virus-stricken nation…

FREE AMERICA NOW

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2020

… Elon held the Tesla earnings call where toward the end, an increasingly angry Musk unleashed a 5-minute rant complete with its own f-bomb, when the CEO doubled down on his stance against the shelter-in-place orders that have gripped the United States economy in recent weeks, warning that the factory shutdowns are a “serious risk” to the electric automaker’s business.

“It will cause great harm, not just to Tesla, but to many companies,” Musk said on the call. “And while Tesla will weather the storm, there are many companies that will not. Everything people have worked for their whole life is being destroyed in real time.”

“It’s breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why they came to America or built this country. What the fuck. Excuse me. Outrage. Outrage.”

“Frankly, I would call it forcible imprisoning of people in their homes against all of, their constitutional rights, in my opinion” he said. Musk then went on to call the state and government imposed shutdown of all-but-essential businesses undemocratic and downright “fascist.”

“If somebody wants to stay in their house, that’s great and they should be able to,” he said. “But to say that they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist.  This is not democratic, this is not freedom, give people back their goddamn freedom.”

The billionaire first said panic about the coronavirus “is dumb” on March 6, as the US first began reporting cases that have now topped 1 million. On Tuesday, he escalated his complaints on Twitter, and shortly before he urged someone to “FREE AMERICA NOW”, he praised Texas’ relaxation of rules starting Friday.

The irony, of course, is that Musk is calling the US government response to COVID-19 “fascist” while praising China on the same day he held a private conference call with the Chinese owners of the Shanghai Tesla plant…

.@Tesla CEO @elonmusk told Shanghai Party chief Li Qiang in a video conference Wednesday that the #gigafactory in Shanghai “performed well” during the #COVID19 assault and Tesla will expand investment in the city. pic.twitter.com/J9bcudI5W8

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) April 29, 2020

… The same China which put hundreds of millions of people into forced quarantine, and those who violated the non-stop curfew was “disappeared” forever.

The even bigger irony is that Musk could care less about US freedoms, and all he is raging about is the forced shuttering of his Fremont auto plant which he has repeatedly violate city ordinances just to keep it running in hopes of beating Wall Street estimates, just so he can keep the stock price elevated above $100 billion so he can earn a $370 million payout.